New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys Tale of the Tape

This is my second Giants-Cowboys inspired post, the first focused on the young players for the Giants and Cowboys. This post will take a look at position by position and give the advantage to one or another.

I suppose I should put out my bias out there now. I am a Giants fan but I won’t let that cloud my analysis!

Quarterback: Tony Romo against New York Giants

I’m not going to go into the back-ups here because A no one wants to see that and B) no one wants to see that!.  Eli Manning and Tony Romo are having remarkably similar years.

Eli Manning’s Numbers:

Tony Romo’s Numbers:

Because of that this argument comes down to three factors:

Career numbers, career accomplishments, clutch

Career Numbers:

Both Eli Manning and Tony Romo have had their struggles in December before so I think that’s a wash.

Tony Romo has better career numbers than Eli Manning that’s not even really arguable. Even though Eli Manning provided he stays healthy this week and next week is going to surpass 4,000 yards for the third straight year, something that very few players in the N.F.L. have ever done (not Tom Brady, and not Brett Favre either). I give this edge to Tony Romo still.

Career accomplishments:

Both quarterbacks have only one playoff games in on season, the difference is that Eli Manning has a Superbowl ring. Advantage Eli Manning.

Clutch:

Tony Romo’s reputation precedes him. But he’s more clutch than he gets credit for, Eli on the other hand is always at his best when the moment is bad.

In one meaningless game I might take Tony Romo, but for an entire season I’ll take Eli manning and I’ll take Eli Manning on Sunday. I also could mention Eli Manning is the league’s Iron-man quarterback. Eli has not missed a start since his first start in his career in 2004 despite a separated shoulder, plantar fascistis and any number of other alignments. I think Romo is tough as well, but I’ll still take Eli.

Running back:

This one is hard to judge because I think Bradshaw is the best running back from both teams. I also think that Jacobs has a unique skill set that can’t be overlooked and before last year’s draft I thought Da’rel Scott should have been drafted early in round four so I was high on him as well. With that being said you have to base it off production this year right? D.J. Ware actually sees more carries than Da’rel Scott and Scott probably won’t even play on Sunday, but I’ve never impressed with Scott.

Like Da’rel Scott Murray was a player I had much higher than he was actually drafted so I love his abilities. Jones has speed you can’t teach and Felix Jones has over 4 yards per carry this year.

I think the Giants have more depth, I think the Cowboys have had more production. On Sunday I trust the Cowboys running game more than I trust the Giants running game though I think behind the same offensive line the Giants running backs are slightly better because there is more depth.

Advantage Dallas

Offensive line

There are two quantifiable stats for the offensive line, even though they can be misleading-sacks and yards per carry. Eli Manning has been sacked 21 times, but that’s misleading because he gets rid of the ball very quickly. Tony Romo has been sacked 25 times, but he holds onto the ball a little longer than most.

The Cowboys are averaging 4.5 yards per rush which is excellent. The Giants are averaging 3.3 yards per carry.

Advantage: Dallas Cowboys

Wide Receivers

These are two very loaded wide receiving corps, but if you discount the Tight End position I don’t think it’s as close. With Jason Witten the Cowboys run four deep. Laurent Robinson is having a career year, Dez Bryant is an absolute stud, and Miles Austin really racks up the yardage.

For the Giants they trot out there Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham, and Victor Cruz.

Both teams have had injuries in their receiving corps (Mario Manningham and Nicks have missed games) and the Cowboys have been without Austin for awhile.

The Giants reserve wide receivers are Ramses Barden, Devin Thomas, rookie Jerrel Jernigan

The Cowboys reserves are Jesse Holley and Kevin Ogletreet

The Numbers

Giants receiving corps

Nicks (860 yards receiving, 6 touchdowns), Cruz (1076 yards receiving 7 touchdowns), Manningham (404 yards receiving 3 touchdowns), Barden (7 receptions 84 yards)

The Cowboys:

Dez Bryant (706 yards receiving 7 touchdowns), Robinson 626 yards receiving (7 touchdowns), Austin (403 yards 4 touchdowns…injured a lot), Ogletree (160 yards receiving) Holley (169 yards receiving)

Combined

Giants 2424 yards receiving and 16 touchdowns

Cowboys: 2064 yards receiving and 18 touchdowns

Advantage: Giants slightly

When you count in the Tight Ends it’s the Cowboys,  but when you limit it to the top three wide receivers (neither team runs a ton of four wide sets and definitely won’t on Sunday with the ability of both teams to rush the passer). I think it’s the Giants slightly.

here’s why Nicks and Bryant are almost a wash. Neither player can be covered one on one and both of them make a ton of plays in double coverage.

Miles Austin is an awesome wide receiver, but if you pair him with Victor Cruz this season it has to be Cruz. He’s having one of the best seasons in the entire league. He’s putting up huge numbers and he’s averaging over a 100 yards per game since he started getting playing time. He does his damage from the slot or the outside. Who’s more talented? Maybe Austin. I’m not sure though.

Laurent Robinson is having a huge year and putting up better numbers than Manningham, but Manningham is more talented, I think. Still You give this one to Robinson and I don’ thave a problem with that. So I went with the total production. Either way, both teams have really plus receivers. Scary for the rest of the league moving forward.

Tight Ends:

Advantage Dallas by a Mile. I dont even have to think about this one. Martellus Bennet might be the best TE on the Giants. Jake Ballard is having a nice season, but thats’ because he’s ignored because of the GIants top three Wide receivers. Witten, on the other hand, is probably a root cause for Robinson’s big season.

Defensive line:

The Giants will be without Osi Umienyora which makes this a close call, but it’s still the Giants.

Jason Pierre Paul is the best young defensive end in the Naitonal Football League and behind Julius Peppers (when healthy) Tuck is the best run stopping pass rushing 43 DE combo player in the league. (I might put Justin Smith ahead of him from 34 DE or Ngata).

The Cowboys have Jay Ratliff who is a nice player, but isn’t playing at the same terrific level as he did in 2008 and 2009 when he was unblockable.

Giants DT Linval Joseph is steadily improving.Chris Canty is meh. He’s better than his numbers indicate.

I like the play of the young Sean lissmore (a player the Giants brought in for an official draft visit).

Linebackers

The Giants have a lot of potential with their linebackers. Mark Herzlich was beginning to look like a guy who can really make plays at the N.F.L level, but he’ll be out of this game. Jacquian Williams is raw, but his ability is undeniable. Michael Boley (who should return) is having a career year. Mathias Kiwanka is proving apt at linebacker this year and might actually convince the Giants to forego a SAM linebacker in the off-season.

With that being said: Sean Lee is really a good looking young player. DeMarcus Ware is one of the best defenders in the entire league (he may not play, I bet he does though). It probably doesn’t even matter who else is playing linebacker for the Cowboys, they are better than the Giants linebackers!

Advantage: Cowboys

Defensive backs:

I wasn’t sure whether or not to break this into cornerbacks and safeties or just defensive backs. But I thought I’d spare the cowboys the humuliation!

The Giants are clearly more talented in the secondary at both levels. The problem is the Giants aren’t consistent in the secondary, they are not players who give the Giants a lot of coverage sacks.

The Cowboys are better statistically, and are even in the top 10 in yards per game. I don’t trust their talent though, especially their safeties.

The Giants have 13 sacks from their secondary players, the Cowboys have 10. Neither team has generated many sacks from the secondary (1 each I think).

Advantage: Tie.

The Giants are more talented in the secondary, the Cowboys have been better numbers in the secondary.If you ask a Giants fan they’ll tell you they think the problem is schematic.

Special Teams

The Cowboys.

If Dez Bryant is returning punts the Cowboys have at least one player who can make plays on Special teams. Their Kicker has been great this year. Both teams have plus punters.

Coaching:

Tom Coughlin.

Even though a few weeks ago I said that if the Giants don’t make the playoffs Tom Coughlin needs to be fired, it’s not like Jason Garrett is setting the world on fire. I trust Coughlin more than Garrett.

Any disagreements out there?

Let me know.

Be sure to follow us on twitter @NFLMocks